


Taufe

by Yasuo_Karada



Category: DRAMAtical Murder (Visual Novel), DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Cannibalism, Gen, Lots Of Sad, Mindfuck, Murder, Post-Apocalyptic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 13:37:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5419103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yasuo_Karada/pseuds/Yasuo_Karada
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And Cain spoke unto Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taufe

It's an interesting thing, to see a mirrored reflection of yourself staring back up at you with the purest and rawest of fear.  
  
Every semblance and every second of a life shared between you shining in the sun-soaked tears, kissed with a hint of sorrow and regret; the long strands of hair sticking with sweat to the brow, as azure as the sky above; the weight in your hand held above your head that only grows heavier and heavier as your heart pounds louder, louder, louder.  
  
A cracked smile, as broken as the sacrificial bird before you, and a final, pained chuckle at accepting the end.  
  
_“Do it.”_  
  
And you swing it down.

 

* * *

 

  
  
The two of you had always been together. Ever since the day you were born, you had never left the other's side, never been outside of arm's reach.  
  
Just being born was your punishment, you had decided some odd years ago.  
  
Being born with the same face was not something uncommon; in fact, everyone in your town had been born an identical twin. It was believed to have been both a blessing and a curse on your race – to have two halves of the same being brought into this world.  
  
The eve of your thirteenth birthday, the town had held a grand festival in celebration. There was bread baked with sugars and spices and juice of the sweetest of berries, lights from the various lightning insects of different colors illuminating the streets, the laughter of children and howling of adults.  
  
Only your mother and father seemed sad.  
  
You were pulled away by Tsurai before you could dwell on it, and joined the rest of the celebration.  
  
Lights blurred as the night went on. Voices distorted and laughter slowed. The world spun on and on and on and on–  
  
You woke up in the middle of nowhere, your brother on the ground by your side, limbs strewn about as though he were gently tossed into the long grass surrounding you. Your head hurt and your body felt heavy, a tingling sensation growing from your toes. You couldn't move for some time.  
  
As your vision cleared and your senses more stable, you realized: you were not home.  
  
Tsurai stirred, struggling to get onto his hands and knees as whatever fatigue that had suddenly washed over you before faded.  
  
You were all alone, just the two of you and this world you did not know.  
  
Beside your recovering bodies lay a bag filled with supplies – matches for a fire, an axe for chopping wood, a knife for slicing meat – and a note.

xxx  
  
_Death, as with all things, is just as inevitable as life._  
  
_There are many things in this world, both cruel and beautiful; many things you will need to face to fight and to accept. Within each of you is a piece bestowed upon us by the gods above that, when together, create a key to that will allow you to return to the paradise you had come to know and love._  
  
_We are all born two halves of the same whole, and when the time for those halves to become one comes will you find the answer to bring you back to that paradise._

 _You cannot exist together._  
  
_When our children reach the age of maturity, the halves they were born with conflict, and seek to destroy all those around them until they find their missing piece. To cleanse and purify your body, the other must be sacrificed and the flesh and blood devoured. This is the only way you will be able to return alive._

_We send you off with our deepest regrets._

xxx

You were too young to understand all of the words, but the message was clear.  
  
You could not return home. Not with Tsurai.  
  
The two of you had survived on the Outside, alone, for the last five years. Your brother seemed to take to his survival instincts rather quickly, shouldering the responsibility to hunt and fight off the shadows that haunted you both from just outside the light of the fires lit every night.  
  
They whispered to you in your sleep, what little sleep you could salvage. Tsurai would scare them away with the flame, screeches echoing through the trees as they fled.  
  
But you knew.  
  
As you prayed the voices away, you knew. They were right.  
  
About how useless you were, how you would be nothing without Tsurai and his initiative and drive, how his destructive tendencies are all he needs; you will get in the way, and he will dispose of you.  
  
All of it, _they were right_.

He didn't need you. He never did.

Eventually, it got to where the voices weren't the ones keeping you awake. It was the thought that Tsurai would take that knife he had grown so fond of holding just for the sake of holding, that he would creep up while you slept, the blade would press right against the softest part of your neck...  
  
...ah, how lovely that red would look against his pale skin.  
  
The thought of home etched itself into your mind, amplified with the constant thought of your own brother betraying you.  
  
_I have to do it first._  
  
But can you?  
  
You could feel the last remaining bits of your sanity and rationale deteriorating with each passing day. You were drowning, and nothing could bring you back – not the butterflies as blue as your hair, not the flowers that reminded you of home, not the unwavering voice of your brother as he talked to you as though nothing was wrong...  
  
Everything was wrong.  
  
You were still here, you both were.  
  
You cannot exist together.

It happened when he looked at you funny – it was different from how he usually looked at you, a subtle twitch in his eyelid setting you off. You had tackled him to the ground, the two of you tumbling down a hill towards a creek next to your campsite. His eyes widened as he was caught off-guard, but looking back on it now, he didn't seem too surprised – like he was expecting this outcome.  
  
And now, as you stare down at that smile, at the rock gripped tightly in your hand painted with that red you always imagined would be so vibrant–  
  
**Do it.**

_Can you?_

–with the same red spilling into the crystal stream beneath you, all other color is lost around you.  
  
Red.  
  
Red.  
  
_It's all fucking red_.  
  
To cleanse and purify your body, the other must be sacrificed and the flesh and blood devoured.  
  
The flesh is soft and gives way to the blade easily as you grip it tightly, carving around the more tender parts. You can feel his love and warmth pouring down the back of your throat into your chest and deep in your gut, the taste sweeter than any of the bread or berries you remember from that night or any night after, and it mixes perfectly with the saltiness of the tears streaming down your cheeks.  
  
You truly feel, _are_ , cleansed.

 

 

* * *

 

  
  
You stumble on shaky legs up to the high walls surrounding your town, corroded and rusted from the Before. The red sticks to your face and hands, bearing the proof of your baptism.  
  
Home.  
  
You're _home_.  
  
And you feel more complete than you ever have since the day you were born.  
  
A relieved grin spreads across your face, a weight lifted at finally being accepted back where you belong. Where you and your brother belong.  
  
“We're back.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, story time.
> 
> This is an idea for a short story that I'm playing around with and this basic concept was something I wanted to test out. Since the Seragaki boys (well, Aoba and Desire) are used as twins in other works (mine included), I figured, why not?
> 
> What the basic underlying storyline for this short story is that there was a virus that infected everybody some years back which increased the expectancy rate for twins to jump up to like 99%. Once the human has reached puberty, the virus causes the body to release a pheromone that causes the others around them to go bonkers (think Hinamizawa Syndrome from When They Cry). However, each twin's pheromone cancels the other's out and neutralizes it by consumption.  
> Exactly how they began this process is pretty vague, but it ultimately comes down to whenever a set of twins are about to reach the average age of puberty (present it can happen as soon as the age of 7 or 8, but here it's been set to between the age of 13 and 14), the night before their birthday the town holds a birthday festivity to feed the twins an herb that knocks them out so they can be brought far away from the town and left to their own devices so one twin can be killed and cannibalized without the rest of the town having the guilt of choosing, or ideally have a creature kill one of the twins. Kind of like a Lord of the Flies type deal, I guess? Although I really want more of a Cain and Abel parallel, in case the summary wasn't obvious.  
> The story is still a rough piece of work, but I wanted to get a feel for some of the basic conflict and see how I can work the tone around.


End file.
